Lost and Found
by Destroyer Sev
Summary: Forced from his universe a Spartan III finds himself in a world where dragons and magic exist, along with a woman who awakens feelings he thought lost forever. Hawke alone and on the run meets a strange man who she finds herself inexplicably drawn to. Can the two find what they never knew was missing? Hawke x SpartanOC. Bumped to M, For violence and near rape.
1. Chapter 1

_**Lost and Found**_

_**So I find myself with a lot of free time. After reading a whole ton of the stories on this site I've decided to give one a go. I've been entertaining on where to set my story and have decided upon this cross over because I feel that the others don't do it justice. The potential is unlimited. This entire story will take place after the end of DA2 and with DA3 coming out who knows, I might incorporate some of it. The Halo part starts a little before Halo 4. This story will mainly be set in Thedas and features a female mage Hawke who is a spirit healer force mage along with being an elementalist. I am going to start with mainly original characters and eventually I'll have the rest of the dragon age cast join in when I am confident enough I can write them well. The first couple chapters will feature hops in between worlds while setting up for the eventual meeting with Hawke. Note: the passing of time before they meet isn't exactly synced. I'll try to update somewhat regularly.**_

_****UPDATE** SO I finally got a beta and she is awesome. We spent most of yesterday fine-tuning this chapter, so without further ado here is the updated version.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: Bioware owns all things dragon age, while Microsoft owns Halo. MY characters are my own.**_

* * *

The Wounded Coast:

Gweneira Hawke was so very tired of being on the run. She was quickly losing each and every member of her family.

Five... She had lost five of them over the course of the day.

Anders' and then Sebastian's nearly simultaneous betrayals, swiftly followed by them abandoning her, had begun to weigh heavily on her heart. Anders had practically shoved her knife into his own heart. But when it came down to it, it was her unwillingness to kill someone she had once cared so deeply for that had stayed her hand.

Let him deal with Justice and his crimes on his own. THAT seemed to her to be a much more fitting punishment. Justice yammering on and on within his brain at how she had denied Justice the "justice", more like vengeance, he so craved. Yes, death would have been too easy of an escape for Anders. Gwen had allowed him to live., but she never wanted to see him again, ever. However, the constant reminder of the friend Gwen had lost and would never regain was too much pain for her to bear.

She had not expected Sebastian to be so outraged about her decision. She would not shatter his delusion that he was the only one to lose the woman who had cared for him throughout most of his adult life. Bitterly, she almost reminded him that at least Grand Cleric Elthina hadn't died in his arms while he watched, helpless to save her. She couldn't muster the energy to challenge his distraught mind's raging thoughts. Anders had broken something within her when he betrayed her and made her an unwilling accomplice in his crime. She also realized Sebastian probably did not fully understand that he was demanding her to kill a man who had once been one of her best friends. She knew she would breakdown even more if she had actually committed the final deed. At that point in time she had yet to face Meredith and Orsino in combat. Hawke, the Champion would take control for now. Gwen could cry later, when she no longer had to keep her Champion mask in place.

Killing was never easy for her; which was surprising considering how much killing she had done during the course of the past years. She could not even muster the energy to respond to Sebastian. She was in no condition to fight his raging outburst and if his friendship was tied with the choice to spare Anders' life, then perhaps they were never truly friends at all. When he swore vengeance and left, Gwen had said nothing, quietly thinking maybe she deserved it.

The fight with Meredith and Orsino were both mentally and physically exhausting. Fenris, Aveline, Varric, Isabela, Merrill, and Carver - who was a most welcome surprise to the team, had stood beside her in the final efforts to end Meredith's tyrannical reign over Kirkwall and Orsino's subsequent revelations. The battle had lasted hours. Her physical exhaustion had cracked her emotional defenses. She didn't know how much longer she could stay in one piece.

She had precious few companions to lean on emotionally, the people she could trust with her innermost thoughts. Merrill was too naive, while Fenris couldn't get past his instinctive hatred of mages, and Isabella was hard to trust with serious things due to her shifty nature. Carver was her younger brother and the last living remnant of her biological family*, and she would always treasure that she was not the only Hawke left standing in this world. Aveline was her rock to keep her Hawke "armor" firmly in place. While Varric was the shoulder Gwen always seemed to choose to cry on. That dwarf was one of the only people to truly know her, to understand her and not judge her moments of weaknesses.

Aveline was the first among the survivors of the fight against Meredith to leave the group during the aftermath, which - to her - was completely reasonable. Aveline had duties to Kirkwall's City Guard, and the chaotic city needed someone to keep it addition abandoning all of the effort that Aveline had put into building herself a new life in Kirkwall was something Gwen would not allow the guardswoman to sacrifice. She took care to not mention that she already felt the gaping hole Aveline's absence had created.

Gwen felt her one of her two crutches fall. She doubted her Hawke "mask" would ever be the same without the stalwart Guard Captain Aveline at her side.

Remaining thoughtful, Aveline went to Hawke's estate and sent Bodahn to her with some essential clothing, followed by Boomer, her ever faithful Mabari companion. After freeing Bodahn from her services and asking him to promise to take care of Orana, she sent him on his way. The dwarf's shoulders were hunched in despair, and Hawke forced herself not to acknowledge the desire to run to him and force him to remain with her, lest she dissolved into pitiful tears on the spot.

The next to leave her was her brother Carver, accompanied by Merrill. Carver had Grey Warden duties he had needed to attend to. This was only after he finally admitted to Merrill that he had been in love with her for quite some time. In return he was surprised to find out she harbored identical feelings for him. She thought it was cute how fast their relationship had taken off; before the fight they had barely managed to maintain eye contact without blushing. Though, just before they had departed from Kirkwall she had caught them staring and sharing stereotypical goo-goo eyes.

Together they had escorted Hawke outside the city walls, where she hugged both of them and said her farewells. Carver managed to extract from her a promise to write to him at the Grey Warden stronghold in the Fereldan city of Amarathine. Merrill had hesitantly hugged Hawke and said she would always be thankful for everything Hawke had done for her. The girl was practically crying. She forswore blood magic forever, and promised to watch over Carver to make sure the big oaf didn't get into too much trouble; then - hand in hand, they returned to the city to find a boat. After the loss of her clan, Merrill had been lonely and morose, so it was good to see her smile again. Hawke wouldn't have been able to stand between them even if she had wanted to.

With both of them gone, Gwen felt her Hawke "mask" breaking. She was about to burst into tears, her champion facade falling and shattering under the pressure of the day's events.

Just then Varric placed a steady and warm hand on her shoulder just as her sight began to blur from the buildup of tears in her eyes that were on the very verge of hand was an anchor. A little bit of the dam against her impending emotional breakdown was repaired, and Gwen was grateful for the strength he'd unintentionally lent her.

"They'll be fine, Hawke!" He said, smiling gently at her. "Junior is all grown up now, he and Daisy can keep an eye on each other. They sure took their sweet time."

"I know, Varric." She attempted a smile to cover her feelings, but the damned dwarf saw right through her with his keen eyes.

"So, then why are you so upset?"

Now she was practically crying! Curses, she never cried. She quickly looked away; burying her face into her hands to avoid is concerned gaze.

"Five." She said, barely a whisper, admitting to him in a roundabout way what thought continued to plagued her mind.

Varric's eyes widened slightly. He was pretty sure he knew what she was talking about, but he figured there was no harm in asking for some clarification. She probably needed to talk about it anyways. "Five what?"

"I lost five family members today.," she said as a tear slipped through her defenses and she dropped none too gracefully on her ass. Shoulders slumped, legs sprawled. Varric could guess that Gwen was letting her Hawke persona fall to the wayside. Standing nearby Isabela was beginning to grow uncomfortable; she could never stand to see Hawke cry. She looked at Hawke on the floor and made a quick decision.

"I'm gonna head back down to the docks and ready The Siren's Call," She glanced over to Fenris. "I could use an escort."

Fenris glanced at Hawke, and she nodded giving him permission to go.

"Where do you wanna go, Hawke?" Isabela asked, risking a quick glance at her weeping friend.

Hawke looked up, her violet eyes shimmering from all the tears she was fighting back. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, just a choked sob.

Varric moved behind her and placed his hand once again on her shoulder, which she immediately reached up and grabbed in some futile attempt to ground herself to reality and prevent more tears from forming. Boomer, sensing his mistress's distress, valiantly moved in front of her in an attempt to shield her from whatever was bothering her. Hawke's free hand instinctively reached up and started scratching the Mabari's back. Her eyes glazed and unfocused, looking but not really seeing as she remained silent on the ground.

It was Varric who eventually spoke up. "Away in general sounds good."

"I have some business to conduct in Antiva," Isabela offered, "But we don't have to stay there permanently."

"We won't be able to stay anywhere permanently," Gwen interjected, her voice barely a whisper as she was lost staring at the ground. Her tone of voice nearly screaming for pity from her remaining comrades.

"ENOUGH!" A harsh voice interrupted before she could say anything more. Hawke straightened up immediately; the voice surprised her out of her dark and emotionally tumultuous reverie, and glanced over at the owner of the voice.

Fenris was glaring at her and furious. He took a few deep breaths to calm down, and then spoke again; his face schooled into a neutral expression, but his tone containing barely concealed anger.

"Hawke, you have come far and faced much hardship. You may have wavered in the face of difficulties, but you have never broken from their influence. THIS will not break you!" With that he turned around and stomped off, muttering Tevene curses as he went.

Bitterly, Gwen thought that it was probably one of the nicest things the Tevene elf had ever said to her, despite all their time spent together during these past years. Isabela shared a brief glance with Varric and then ran to catch up with Fenris.

Fenris' words managed to push Gwen's emotional storm back behind her carefully constructed mental armor. The Hawke persona was once again in control, but the real Gwen refused to remain silent. Her thoughts warred against one another within the confines of her mind. Hawke's need to be strong before her companions warring against Gwen's need to express herself emotionally, but neither side of her persona gaining the upper hand over the other.

Gwen looked up at Varric and whispered, "Does life ever get easier? Or does it only get more difficult?"

"It'll get more difficult and then it'll get easier," he said as he patted her shoulder. "And I'll be there for both."

Within the privacy of his own mind Varric desperately hoped he would be able to be there for her.

* * *

A Forerunner installation on an undisclosed planet:

Life was difficult.

Spartan-G197, Dominic, was in a tight spot. Plasma fire blazed all around him, those projectiles that managed to get passed his cover scorching his shields; the two Elites across the room were not going to make this easy for him.

A plasma grenade landed next to him and he dove out from behind the low wall he was hiding behind, firing his MA5D ICWS Assault Rifle as he went. He primed two frag grenades and threw them over the Forerunner bench in the back of the room. The frag grenades landed at the feet of the two Elites crouched behind it, forcing them to also jump out of their cover.

The grenades exploded and their shields flickered. He emptied the last of his clip, shattering the remainder of their shields.

The gun chirped in his hands, signaling its need for additional ammunition.

The respite in the barrage of bullets on his part gave the Elites the chance they needed to return fire with their T-55 Storm Rifles. Dominic quickly rolled to the side and by the time he was back on his feet, his Magnum was already up, firing two bullets into each of their heads. He tensed and scanned the room, double checking to see if there were more than the two he had stumbled upon. His radar was clear.

Alone. For now.

Taking advantage of the lull in fighting he reloaded his weapons.

He almost let a sigh of relief escape his mouth from underneath his helmet, but reminded himself he was a SPARTAN and continued his scan of the room, making sure there were no additional entryways he had missed. He kept an eye out for his target, Jul'Mdama, but all the adjoining rooms turned out to be completely empty and devoid of life.

Jul'Mdama was a slippery bastard. Some last minute Intel from an extremist defector had placed him and his partner down here looking through a giant Forerunner facility.

The mission should have been easy, except it was turning out to be anything but. Jul had an entire cadre of like-minded Sangheili at his command. Hundreds of followers were wandering the halls of the massive installation, their purpose however, remained indiscernible to him. He and his partner, Arvo, had split up in order to cover ground faster and hoped to find Jul much sooner than if they had stuck together. 'Cut off the head of the snake and the body dies as well.' Arvo was very fond of reminding him of that saying every time he questioned the logic of leaving all of these enemies alive and waiting at their backs.

He took a brief moment to reflect on how the two Elites at the center of the room had surprised him. He had been carefully going from room to room, and had accidentally stumbled upon the two reading the inscriptions along the walls. They were neither speaking, nor moving; hence his lack of ability to detect them before it was already too late. He had foolishly hoped they hadn't noticed him, but that hope was dashed when they immediately began firing at him. He had barely had time enough to dive behind the low wall that was positioned next to the entrance of the room.

He scrounged through some of the Elites' gear: taking from their corpses two energy swords and all the grenades they still carried. He realized it was probably time to go; enemy forces would most likely be closing on his position soon, his firefight hadn't exactly been subtle. The good news was that Arvo would now probably not have too many enemies to worry about, as the majority would be sent to apprehend him., This was because one of the two Elites that he had just slain had clearly managed to send his description over the BATTLENET, the new Covenant's comm channel, before their fight, or at some point during the battle. Undoubtedly many of the guards would strike up a clamor with one another to vie for the chance to kill one of the UNSC's legendary "demons".

As much as he would have liked to stop and take the time to kill every guard that ran past him, he did not have that kind of time to spare.

He and Arvo had maybe an hour tops before the enemy would attempt to evacuate Jul and they would lose their ever narrowing window of opportunity.

He activated his customized invisibility tech, a gift from his partner, and sunk into the shadows.

"You have a fairly substantial amount of guards headed for your side of the installation, Wraith.," A deep gravelly voice informed him through his radio. Dominic could practically see that damn smirk in his partner's eyes as he said those words.

"Shut it, Arvo," He responded. "I've had no luck today. How about you?"

"Well it seems you may have made some for me."

God damn! Dominic definitely knew he was smirking now.

"Spit it out!" He snapped as he weaved in and out of the oblivious guards on his way to the yellow mark he could see at the edge of his radar.

"Most of the guards are headed your way, but I overheard a handful saying that they should probably go and reinforce Mdama's position. I am following them now."

"Alright. I see you on the edge of my radar. I'll catch up to you soon. Don't kill this one without me! You're making me look like a lazy SPARTAN who lets his partner do all the heavy lifting!"

"No promises…"

God damn, there was that smirking tone again!

Dominic quickened his pace, but was still walking slowly and carefully so as to not step on any of the guards numerous feet as they scurried past him on their way to his assumed position. He thanked whatever gods there were for the top of the notch gear Arvo was able to find.

* * *

_**Good. First chapter done. Dominic is my main spartan character. I might have Arvo join the dragon age world at some point. Scratch that I will have Arvo join in eventually, just not at the same time. His appearance might make Hawke and Dominic get off on the wrong foot and I wouldn't want that. I'll update soon! I probably won't reveal how Gwen and Dominic look until it makes sense in the story and I'll leave you guys guessing. I have some twists planned but hopefully my writing skills convey them the way I want to. If you guys have some ideas feel free to leave them in the reviews! I'll try to incorporate some of them.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**So here's chapter 2 and my beta wanted a brief summary of what happened over the course of the game for my Hawke. Hawke had no romantic attachments. Thus she and Varric are very close. She also sided with the mages in most cases, but was against the overall separation of mages from the circle. She understands that she is an exception, not the rule. Carver was sent to the wardens and Anders was set free. Sebastian left and none of her other companions went against her during the final battle. Oh and does anyone know if I have to put a disclaimer in every chapter?**_

_***Disclaimer* All the dragon age stuff belongs to Bioware and all the Halo stuff belongs to Microsoft. My characters are my own!**_

* * *

A Different Section of the Forerunner Installation:

Jul'Mdama was rapidly becoming rather scared and was quickly approaching his wits end. He had taken to pacing back and forth in what he would have assumed to have been the control room of the Forerunner facility. He was beginning to learn the hard way that it was not in fact the control room.

Two of his guards had just been found dead.

With his dying breath one of them had managed to report that a demon had been seen and engaged within the facility. A Demon. He should have felt flattered, but the rapid beating of his heart indicated an entirely different feeling.

He had never faced one of them in person, but had heard the stories. It was said that one of them had single handedly destroyed a sacred ring and was personally responsible for wiping out the last of the Prophets. Mdama knew for certain that he did not want to be added to the list of casualties claimed by these demons.

Mdama had been so engrossed in his wandering train of thought and far too panicked to notice the silent shadow watching him from the rafters.

Arvo, from above, peered down his scope at his target.

Mdama seemed to hold himself above the others as if he was the absolute pinnacle example of his entire race; and it irked Arvo to no end. He barely managed to restrain himself from pulling the trigger on his weapon. There was something about fanatical zealots that bothered him to no end. He had never been fanatically obsessed about anything. Loyal? Yes. Fanatical? Not a chance. Not even for the religion he was born into. The moment it went against his moral code, he had dropped it without a second thought.

He contemplated pulling the trigger again, but stopped himself. Mdama was everything the Sangheili people were trying not to be - he was ruthless and he purposely targeted non-combatants. At this range he knew a bullet from his gun wouldn't pierce the Zealot-class shielding Mdama was utilizing, so there was no point in giving away his position for a shot that most likely wouldn't result in a one-hit kill.

Taking time, he risked a quick glance at his radar and saw that Wraith was getting closer to his location. He would allow his friend to draw the attention of the various forces Mdama had surrounded himself with, giving himself the chance needed to assassinate the pathetic waste of space.

Below him Mdama was shouting orders to his subordinate to move out. _Something about a control room?_

The blasted disgrace of an Elite was moving locations bastard was not making this mission any easier to complete. He keyed the built-in communicator in his armor, "Wraith, Mdama is on the move. Are you purposely taking forever?"

Wraith's hushed, but equally flustered, voice came swiftly in reply. "The faster I move, the more this camouflage tech reveals. Why couldn't you get me one that was constant?"

"Perhaps, you are just using it did read the manual, right?" Arvo said while smirking slightly.

Wraith seemed to be the only person who could get him to smile, which he reflected on with a fair bit of humor. Arvo would never tell Wraith how much the camouflage tech actually meant to him. To part with it had been one of the hardest things Arvo had ever done. It had been a gift from his father, who had recovered the item from the body of a treacherous Sangheili General, the brother of the previous Arbiter._ A family of brutes, that bunch._ Arvo also knew that he had not given his partner a manual for it, seeing as there wasn't one to begin with.

"Wait… There's a manual?" Wraith questioned.

Arvo simply responded with a resounding and firm "No."

Wraith responded with a very explicit string of curses that Arvo guessed would cause many others to cower in fear. Arvo only smiled. He knew Wraith would take good care of the gift and put it to much better use in these engagements of theirs than he ever could. That had been the reason he was finally able to part with. _Always practical, per usual._

The last of Mdama's guards had finally followed their arrogant leader out of the room and it was safe for him to move. Arvo dropped the thirty or so feet from his perch and activated his own somewhat less powerful camouflage to follow. He had no plans on stumbling upon the enemy exactly like Wraith had earlier.

Wraith was a curious SPARTAN - when Arvo took the time to think about it. The man preferred to combat his opponents in an up-close and personal manner. If he wasn't in danger of being shot at every time he got close to an enemy, he probably would have stabbed, punched, or kicked everything to death. Wraith was one of the few SPARTANs not in the second generation who could take him in close quarters combat.

Arvo keyed his radio again, "I'm following our target. Please try and catch up."

A groan was his only response, to which Arvo only smirked again.

* * *

The Deck of The Siren's Call on the Amaranthine Ocean:

Varric was becoming quite worried. With no romantic attachments to distract her, Gwen had spent most of her nights drinking with him at the Hanged Man. _Good_ _times, those._ But now he was lost without his best friend. He felt like he had left half of himself back in the courtyard with that crazy Templar bitch's statue. Bianca was a good listener, but he missed the two way street he had found in Gwen. She was sarcastic and witty, but genuine when it mattered. She was everything he wanted in a best friend, and if Bianca hadn't so thoroughly taken all of his heart there might have been more room for her within it. _If she had been attracted to him in_ _that particular way_. He hoped she could recover from the emotional upheaval of those last few days spent in , a part of him knew that it would be a long and difficult process as it seemed that she was also suffering through every emotional issue she had kept bottled up over the years.

No, worried was putting it too mildly. Varric was shitting his pants in fear and overwhelming concern for Gwen's mental stability. Currently she was quiet and isolating herself, where usually she was anything but. He could tell from the glances Fenris and Isabella shot him every once in a while that they were worried as well. _ But to_ _what degree?_ He wasn't exactly sure. Plus he had no idea what they expected him to do about it.

She spent most of her days in her cabin, rarely coming out. Another thing that continued to bother him, was that she wouldn't speak to him. Her only true companion was Boomer, who absolutely refused to leave his mistress's side. Varric would have been jealous if he didn't know how much the Mabari truly meant her. Maybe the Mabari understood more than they did. That dog was probably the main reason she was still going.

Varric and Fenris alternated turns bringing her food._ Broody was attempting to reassure himself she had not become even broodier than he was. Must be it. Speaking of him, Broody and Rivaini were rather close these days. Oh well, thoughts for a time when Gwen wasn't emotionally distraught._

It was her behavior towards him that had Varric bothered the most. She would give him a half-hearted smile that never reached her eyes, accept the food, and then close the door. All of this without saying a single word to him.

She never sought out conversation, a far cry from the sarcastic and witty Gwen that he loved so dearly. But when prompted enough she would reply, her tone flat and emotionless. It Her very tone grated on his ears, as it was so unlike her previous self.

Varric could not even maintain eye contact when she responded to him in that way. It was too unnerving. Gwen's violet colored eyes were glazed and unfocused, seemingly staring away into an abyss of nothingness. A far cry from the stalwart leader and close friend she had been just a short month ago.

Eventually he had stopped trying to speak to her, that didn't stop him from checking up on her every chance he got._ It was time for him, Isabela, and Fenris to have a little chat about what to do with their out-of-sorts leader._

They would be arriving in Antiva in a matter of days. He hoped he would see more of the old Gweneira Hawke by then. _Hey, a dwarf can be optimistic when he wants to. _He hoped together they could come up with something to cheer her up. Otherwise this was going to turn out being a very long trip.

* * *

Hawke's Quarters on The Siren's Call:

Gwen sat silently in her borrowed bed, drying her tears from previous night. Isabella had graciously lent her the room, as it had the most room and the benefit of thicker walls. She was grateful that no one could hear her cry and see how weak she was being. Boomer had sat patiently by her side, his warmth a constant comfort. He never seemed to judge her and he would always hold a special place in her heart.

Thank the Maker for the day he had found her. She had been climbing a tree on the outskirts of Highever; though she couldn't exactly remember why, when she had fallen from the tree and broken her leg. She had been seven at the time. A young girl around her age with two puppies following her had stumbled upon Gwen lying in the grass fighting back her tears; as she was attempting to make a makeshift splint. She was extremely surprised by the girl's immediate reaction. The girl had fretted and asked if she should go get help. Gwen had drawn a quick map in the dirt of where the girl could find her father, Malcolm Hawke. However, the girl did not want to leave Hawke alone and asked if either of the Mabari pups would stay with her. The runt of the two pups had immediately stepped forward curling next to her unbroken leg.

The girl had been gone for only about five minutes - must have been, the puppy couldn't have distracted her that well. She came around the corner, practically dragging her father. His eyes were rife with suspicion, before spotting his daughter and rushing over. With no concern for his safety, he called forth his healing magic and healed her broken leg. Once he was sure that Gwen was no longer in pain, he remembered himself, and looked over at the other little girl, who was staring at the sky, whistling while scratching the larger Mabari pup's ear. Upon realizing that she wasn't going to go running to the Templars, her father had asked her name. _What had her name been? Elise? Eliza? No, it had been Elissa. Definitely Elissa._

Elissa had turned to leave, calling both Mabar pups to her; but the one that had stayed with her remain seated by Gwen. Elissa had smiled and just kept walking.

That was the first happy memory of her childhood she'd thought about in a rather long period of time. She realized a pattern though, every time she had been happy, it had been preceded by pain. At this rate, the Maker owed her some real happiness. She had gotten Carver back, but at the cost of losing her mother, Leandra. She had met Fenris, only after being tricked by the dwarf Anso. She had become friends with Isabella, at the cost of her betrayal concerning the Tome of Koslun. Merrill was openly a bloodmage, but was naïve to the consequences of her choices upon others, which had led to the tragedy that had befallen Keeper Marethari. She also came to realize that it was Varric Tethras and Aveline Vallen who were the only friends to come, no strings attached.

She knew she should be out and walking around the ship, but Gwen wanted nothing more than to sit and wallow in her own self-pity. The two sides of her personality warred against each other, and Gwen hated the resulting conflicting emotions, making her all the more confused as to what would be the better choice.

Most of these past few days had been spent having her hardened Hawke persona trying to force and confine her softer Gwen nature into the background. Gwen would not allow herself to give in this time. She would not allow herself to continue bottle up her emotions, it could not be healthy. She hadn't the strength to keep all of these warring emotions bottled up within herself anymore. All of the years that she had prevented herself from crying had suddenly come streaming out of her over the past few days. She would not have made it through the first week with her sanity intact had it not been for Boomer's constant companionship and his inability to judge her.

She was valiantly trying to find the strength to recover, for Varric and Carver's sake at least. She wouldn't leave her brother as the last Hawke, and if she was going to die…. It would be after Varric. The afterlife wouldn't be much of one without would be able to drag her out of all this pit of misery eventually. She had faith in him. _Maybe that was the reason why her spirit companion was Faith._

Gwen realized she would never fully be able to stand on her own ever again. She was too broken, and what was even worse was the fact that she had no idea how to fix herself. She hoped she could find someone else to help her stand on her own two feet once again.

* * *

_**Yes that was Elissa Cousland. No she is not the Warden. I'll give a brief summary of the blight. Solona Amell was the Warden. She romanced Zevran. Gave her life in Final Battle. Set Alistair on the throne alone. He is now in an arranged marriage with Elissa Cousland. Sided with Mages. Saved elves. Nathanial is now Warden-Commander after Orleisian Warden ransacked Amaranthine. Architect is dead. Bhelen is on the throne of Orzammar. Destroyed Anvil of the Void. Both Isolde and Connor are alive. Thanks for reading! Chapter 3 will be posted sometime within this week hopefully.**_

_***Oh, and the more followers I get, the more I'll feel the need to update more often. Would hate to keep you guys waiting.***_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Sorry for the late update, Yes I consider this a late update. (Should give you an idea on how much I'm planning to update it). AnywayshHere it is, sorry for the mistakes. Half of this is un-beta'd._**

**_**Update Beta VERSION! woo!_**

* * *

The Forerunner Facility:

Dominic double-checked the radar display on his helmet's HUD. The yellow triangle signifying Arvo's location was right next to him. Despite this Arvo was nowhere to be seen.

Dominic keyed his mic. "Arvo, where the hell are you?"

THUNK!

A piece of rubble bounced off Dominic's shoulder guard.

"Above." Arvo's voice came through his headset.

"STOP smirking, you son of a…" Dominic grumbled out as he was glared at the shadow lurking above him.

"Are you done with your childish tantrum?" Arvo was practically grinning through his mic, "We have a target to kill."

Dominic let out one of the longest sighs of his life. "Well then,where is he?"

"I do not know." Arvo spoke quietly, his tone one of self-disgust. "I was following at a distance so their motion trackers would not detect me. They came down this corridor, but at the end it branches of into two paths. I do not know in which direction he went."

"It's fine,." Dominic swiftly replied. He knew how personally Arvo tended to take things that made him seem incompetent upon reflection,. "I'll take the left and you take the right?"

"Sounds as good a plan as any," he said in reply, and although Arvo's tone was a little more cheery than before, Dominic knew that Arvo was still rather angry with himself after failing to successfully tail their target.

"Arvo, don't worry about it," Dominic said in an attempt to reassure his friend. He knew Arvo would take it personally and feel like it was his fault, when he had in fact done nothing wrong,. "Even you can't predict the layout of this place. Radio me if you see him."

His partner did not reply, but he saw Arvo's shadow leap from rafter to rafter heading towards the right hallway. Dominic grinned to himself as he watched his partner head off, because he knew that Arvo wouldn't allow his reservations concerning his self-conceived notions of personal failure to get the best of him .

Dominic turned and headed down the left tunnel, his mind settling back into the finely honed focus of a trained soldier.

Dominic inched down his chosen hallway, which from his point of view seemed to go on forever. He was cloaked and taking it slow, so as to not make the same mistake he had made earlier.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a light appeared at the end of the hallway. He exited from the hall and crept into a room that had a massive set of doors located on the far side.

He thought he was being rather careful with his movements, until he walked into something undeniably solid. He double checked both his radar and looked around his surroundings, but nothing was in front of him. Then the invisible object that he had previous bumped into growled at him. Dominic cursed his luck, just as the biggest Elite he had ever laid eyes on decloaked in front of him.

He cursed his luck once again as the Elite backhanded his general location, and the blow luckily managed to strike him across the chest with enough force to fling Dominic against the nearby wall. He hit the wall with such a brutal amount of force, that the wind was knocked out of him and pieces of the wall fell off around him and his cloak deactivated.

"Hello, Demon." The massive Elite said as its energy sword hissed to lif. while Dominic struggled to his feet.

'Hello to you too, ugly.' Dominic thought while grinning beneath his helmet.

The Elite roared viciously and rushed towards him in an enraged charge. It stopped just short of hitting him with its large form and swung it's energy sword.

Dominic rolled out of the way at the precise moment and took a few steps away attempting to gain some distance from the gargantuan Elite as he brought his MA5D ICWS Assault Rifle up to his shoulder.

The Elite's energy sword had left a huge slash across the wall were his neck would have been had he not moved out of the way.

The Elite charged at him again and Dominic unloaded the loaded magazine of his rifle into the nearing giant. Despite the hail of bullets the Elite didn't even slow in the slightest as it shoulder checked him with all of its strength and Dominic found himself flying into a wall for the second time. Groaning as he stood up, he realized he was greatly outclassed by the enemy in front of him.

"You are a Demon?" It questioned him,. "I was expecting something far more challenging."

Grinning, Dominic reached behind him and primed a plasma grenade, "And I was expecting to die by something much more beautiful than you." He shrugged, "But we all can't get what we want, now can we?."

The Elite roared in fury and charged at him once again just like he had wanted. Dominic sidestepped the charge once more and attached the readied grenade to the Elite's armored backside. With a giant explosion, both the enemy Elite and Dominic found themselves flying backwards through the air and were unable to hold onto their weapons as they were knocked from their grasps.

From the outward force of the detonation Dominic was once again slammed against another wall, while the Elite had been blown several feet backwards.

'I'm really getting tired of all these damn walls.' Dominic thought as he recovered from his third encounter with a wall.

Dominic's shields flared and died, after which he chanced a brief glance at the Elite. The Elite's shields weren't down, but they were bright, signifying they were close to failure. Dominic removed his Magnum from its holster as he stood and began to stalk towards his downed adversary.

The Elite struggled to his large feet as the SPARTAN came closer and closer. "The Demon is near the sealed door in the northwest of the facility,." It gurgled into the BATTLENET while it's purple blood leaked from its spread mandibles.

Dominic quickly brought his pistol up and sighted down the barrel, while his left hand hovered patiently around his thigh. The Elite charged once again, but this time Dominic stood his ground against the rampaging alien. Dominic kept firing, realizing the Elite must have had some of the most powerful shielding technology available. With his last spent bullet, the Elite's shields finally popped and dissipated into nothingness,but the Elite was still quickly closing the distance. Dominic dropped the pistol and swiftly brought up his left hand activating one of the energy swords he had recovered earlier. Spotting the glowing blue blades the Elite's eyes widened as he came to realize that his death was indeed upon him.

As the two combatants crashed together the Elite's momentum carried Dominic back a few inches, while the force of the collision simultaneously buried the sword deeper within it's chest.

The Elite just glared at him a minute, possibly two, before it finally smiled in it's own bizarre alien way. An expression Dominic was all too used to seeing in his line of work. With his last breath the dying Elite managed a faint whisper into the BATTLENET,. which Dominic's SPARTAN enhanced hearing managed to pick up. Though all he heard were the words "do it."

"GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Arvo's loud and desperate voice yelled over his radio.

"Wha… Why?" Dominic managed to stutter out while his brain hurriedly tried to figure out what was wrong. He had never heard that sort of tone of voice from Arvo.

He glanced around the room.

He groaned, spotting the armed bomb at the back of the room.

The last thing Dominic saw was a bright light and then was surrounded by resounding darkness as something large collided with his body.

* * *

The Siren's Call:

Varric, Fenris and Isabella stood outside of the door to the captain's cabin. They were unsure if the plan they had come up with would help get Hawke back to her old self, but they couldn't just sit around doing nothing. Varric raised his hand to knock and his fist hit nothing but air. There on the threshold of the door stood Hawke smirking at the congregation of her companions gathered there. She glanced around, one of her eyebrows arching upwards.

"Something I missed?" she asked, her violet eyes gleaming.

Varric was caught off guard. "We were just… uh… That is I was worried about you. How are you?" He managed.

Hawke's eyes narrowed down at him and he suddenly felt much smaller, more so than the usual at least.

'Damn.' Varric thought. 'I didn't mean to upset her.'

"You two. Leave us," she commanded, directing her words towards Isabella and Fenris. Fenris glared at Hawke and prepared to retort something, and judging by his expression, it wouldn't have been very nice. If he had decided to open his mouth, Hawke might close off even more and that wouldn't be a good time. Luckily, Isabela saved their collective asses and decided to speak up before the others.

"Right, I have a ship that needs steering," Isabela stated as her eyes gleamed, completely ignoring Hawke's brusqueness. "Holler if you need anything. Handsome, why don't you come and give me a hand up on deck?"

The pirate winked at Varric and before she bodily dragged Fenris away while he muttered Tevene curses. But before leaving entirely she turned around and mouthed a 'good luck' to Varric.

'I'll need it.' Varric thought, while Hawke merely grimaced at the departing elf and scantily clad pirate.

"I think you just sent Broody into his corner to brood some more," Varric said, his humor finally seeming to have recovered. "I'd be surprised if we see him at all again today."

Gwen had her arms crossed and was glaring heatedly at Fenris' retreating form. Finally, she sighed and uncrossed her arms from their tensed position.

"I was just coming to find you. We need to talk." She sounded all business, her tone flat and clipped. "You're the only one on this ship I feel like explaining myself to right if I tell you, I'll only need to explain myself once."

"Hawke...Gwen. Are you alright?" Varric asked. Gone was his instinctual sense of humor, with genuine friendly concern taking its place.

She backed away from the door. "Step into my office, my excellent example of manliness." She quipped, attempting some humor. It was a start on the path to healing, but not an overly promising one.

But because of her attempt Varric found a true smile gracing his face for the first time in weeks. "You mean perfect example of manliness, right?." He said in return, playin along. He could swear he could see even Hawke's teeth. There they were. Oh, how he had missed seeing those sparkling whites.

A large brown and furry blur shot out of the room, almost bowling Varric over where he stood.

"Sorry," Hawke apologized,. "He's been cooped up in here nearly this whole time."

"No worries," Varric shrugged. "What did you need?"

"To talk."

'Finally some answers,' Varric thought. He quickly stepped into the cabin and took the only empty chair in the room, while Hawke got comfortable on the bed. He should have noticed when the door closed by itself, but his attention was focused solely on the woman seated in front of him.

* * *

**_So my Beta doesn't have nearly enough free time to keep up on me with this, so I find myself in need of some more people to beta my work. Anyways if you're interested shoot me a PM! Looking forward to hearing from you! Hope you enjoyed. Lack of reviews kind of makes me nervous, but I'll take it as a positive._**


	4. Chapter 4

_**AN: SO me and my betas (Whom I love) are still ironing out some kinks in our review process, hence the longer than intended time between chapters. So without further ado...**_

* * *

The Forerunner Facility:

Arvo was rapidly covering distance down the right hallway. He was still up in the rafters;, as the Forerunners had conveniently placed cross beams near the ceiling that were just far enough for him to leap from one to the other.

'How thoughtful of them,' Arvo snickered, though he doubted the Forerunners put these beams here for this particular purpose. Whatever their purpose was, he did not share Wraith's worry of bumping into a guard up here.

From his spot up above, Arvo watched the ground for any signs of his fleeing quarry. After making sure his way forward was clear, he entered the room which had two guards stationed in front of a door on the far side. From their armor Arvo could tell that they were two minor Elites, and that their shielding was very weak.

'A rear guard of expendable troops. How unfortunate… For them,' He thought.

He came to a stop and pulled out his rifle. Easy targets were not much fun, but they were an obstacle in his way. He put the scope to his eye and focused until one of the guard's heads was in the middle of his crosshairs, then switched to the opposite guard. He repeated the process until he was satisfied that his arm had memorized the movement.

He slowed his breathing and then rapidly pulled the trigger twice.

Both guards dropped.

He scanned the room once more. Satisfied that the room was empty, he dropped down to the ground. As an afterthought, he decided to check the two bodies, and was surprised to learn that their communication gear was the same model as his. He quickly copied the settings from one of their communicators and set up a new channel, then switched from his link with Wraith over to their BATTLENET chatter.

A deep voice that sounded like it's owner was quickly approaching his death came over the channel. "The Demon is near the sealed door in the northwest of the facility."

'Poor Wraith. He has terrible luck,' Arvo thought to himself humorously.

"Send reinforcements over to 'Sraomee's position, the Demon went down the wrong pathway. HA!" Jul's voice boomed loudly over the BATTLENET.

"As you command, Shipmaster 'Mdama." Another voice responded immediately.

'So I am on the right track. Good.' he thought.

Arvo activated the door and slid through. He glanced up and noticed there were no more rafters above him. He was now confined to moving on the ground.

The first voice came back over the BATTLENET. "Do it."

"You heard him! Cancel those reinforcements and activate it!" 'Mdama practically yelled over the BATTLENET.

"Yes, Shipmaster. Activating the demolition charge."

'Wait…Bomb? Not good!' Arvo stopped dead in his tracks and hurriedly switched his channel. Not caring if there were bystanders that could hear him, he yelled into the comm,. "DOMINIC! Get out of there NOW!"

He let out a silent prayer to all the gods he knew of that Dominic would escape safely.

The explosion shook the walls around him and it was a moment later that the boom caught up to the shockwave.

"Wraith? Dominic? Are you there?" He asked hesitantly into his mic.

Five minutes passed, and Arvo was starting to break into a cold sweat. He had no idea what he would do without his friend and partner. The SPARTAN had always seemed invincible, and Arvo hoped his friend would survive. He had gotten used to working with Dominic, and hoped their partnership would continue. It would be too boring if Dominic did not survive. He weighed his options and came to a conclusion rather quickly.

"I'm turning around and coming back for you," He said into the link. His friend needed him, and his honor demanded that he do something. Even if a matter of honor was not the case, he would still have made the choice to go after his partner.

Arvo turned around and sprinted back the way he had come. He made it back to the door in a fraction of the time it took him going the other way. He reached over to open it and a voice came through his radio.

"I'm alright," Dominic managed to get into the radio between each of his wheezing gasps.

Arvo had never been more relieved in his entire life. "I'm buried under some rubble. Give me a sec."

'His voice doesn't sound as strong as usual,' Arvo noticed.

"You are sure you are whole?" He questioned his partner.

A few seconds passed. 'If he doesn't respond soon I will kill him myself.' Arvo grumbled to himself. 'Must be either a lot of rubble or the whole ceiling had caved in.'

"Yes, Mom,." Dominic's voice finally replied, laced with heavy amounts of sarcasm,. "You can't help anyways. The entire hallway back is collapsed. Did you find Jul?"

"No, but Mdama is somewhere ahead of me. You still want me to go after him?" He questioned his partner once more.

"A SPARTAN always puts the mission first. I thought you would have learned that by now. Go after him, I'll go deeper into the facility and look for a way to meet up with you. Let me know when it's done," Dominic replied, followed by a few heavy coughs. He definitely did not sound okay.

Realizing that no matter how much Arvo wanted to help his partner, there wasn't a thing he could do about it. It would take forever to get through the rubble - assuming he could even move some of it.

"Good luck, Arvo. The walls of this side of the facility look to be made thicker than the rest, communication might not be possible. See you on the other side." With that his channel clicked dead.

Arvo sighed and cursed the SPARTAN's thick-headedness. He turned and headed back the way he was originally going. But he was unaware that was the last time he'd hear his partner's voice for quite some time.

* * *

The Antivan port of Treviso:

Hawke stood on the deck of the Siren's Call with Boomer at her side as the ship pulled into the Antivan port city of Treviso. It was a bright day and she could see the many canals and stone bridges that were a favorite of Antivan city builders. The town seemed much more homely than the dry and foreboding Kirkwall. She had tried to make it home, but with all the loss that she had experienced there she had never truly succeeded.

The stone was almost exactly the same granite that Denerim was built of. If it wasn't for the warm climate she could almost pretend she was home. Oh, how she missed her homeland. The fact that it would be a very long time before she could return weighed heavily on her heart. She enjoyed adventuring, just not one hundred percent of the time.

Isabela was at the helm of the ship, shouting orders and completely in her element. Her sailors scrambled like rats all over the ship to heed the orders of the ship's captain. Isabela wasn't called Queen of the Eastern Seas for no reason. Isabela even had Fenris running to and fro. He seemed to be rather enjoying it as well, much to Gwen's surprise. Ever since Isabela had dragged him away, he had taken surprisingly well to sailing.

During the past few weeks of travel, Hawke had been coming out of her room more and more as part of her promise to Varric. She had felt relieved after unloading all her troubled thoughts to Varric, whom for once had remained silent as she practically spilled her innermost thoughts into his lap. If she hadn't already appreciated him so highly, he would have moved up in the list of her favorite people. However, he was already at the top.

Varric approached her from behind and stood silently as he, too, took in the sights. After about five minutes of gazing and just as the ship pulled alongside the dock, he asked, "Is there anything you wanted to do? Maybe see the sights?"

"The main thing I want is to sleep on solid ground and eat something other than fish or stew. I'll go sightseeing, but only if you accompany me." Gwen replied humorously as she smiled down at him.

"I know of quite a few inns from my contacts that we can choose from. As for the escort? It would be my honest pleasure." He stated smoothly, then smirking he added, "I have a couple story details to run by you anyways."

After finding an inn that was to Hawke's satisfaction, Varric and Hawke decided to explore the city. They invited Fenris and Isabela, but both curiously decided to stay at the inn. They both gave separate reasons for staying, neither of which fooled Varric or Hawke. Boomer didn't need an invitation; as soon as Varric opened the door to exit the inn, he was practically shoved out the door. If he wasn't so light on his feet, Boomer surely would have barreled him over. Gwen watched on in humor as Varric valiantly stayed upright. She glanced behind her and saw the innkeeper let out a sigh of relief when the massive dog went out the door; this only caused her smile to widen further.

The city was beautiful. Treviso was full of life and people going about their daily business as usual, when they weren't being harassed by Boomer that is. The children, on the other hand, absolutely adored him. They had probably never seen a Mabari in their short lives, being so far north. Boomer loved the attention. He could easily give rides to three or four children at a time, and was quite glad to be paid with head-scratches galore.

'It was a shame that if Anders got what he wanted, this place and all of Thedas would be consumed by war', she thought as she watched Varric regale some of the children with exaggerated tales of her exploits as Champion of Kirkwall. He was quite upset originally when he asked if any had heard stories of her and they all shook their heads no. He took it in stride and proceeded to exaggerate even more so than usual. The children watched in wide-eyed fascination.

Hawke suddenly had the feeling she was being watched. Years upon years of fighting and having people constantly try to kill her had honed her perceptive nature to a fine point. She nonchalantly scanned the crowd in the open square to see if anyone didn't belong. Everyone seemed to be paying her absolutely no attention. Still the feeling persisted. She turned her eyes away from the ground and started scanning the buildings instead. On the rooftop across from her, she thought she saw a shadow, but when she glanced again it was gone. As was the feeling of being watched. Anyone with less experience probably would have dismissed the notion, but Hawke had plenty of experience and knew she had caught sight of her watcher, however briefly.

She returned her attention to Varric who had stopped his story and was eyeing her curiously. He was about to say something, but before he could a horse came galloping into the square. The horse looked exhausted and the rider wasn't faring much better. He practically fell out of his saddle when he spotted her and Varric.

"Master Varric, Mistress Hawke!" The rider managed to get out between his gasping for air. Varric then approached him.

"Breathe, boy" Varric commanded him, while Gwen watched him pat the messenger's back heavily with some faint amusement.

"A message from Kirkwall!" he cried, loud enough for the entire square to hear. Varric practically smothered him then and there. At this point Hawke strode forward, all the merriment gone from her face.

"Are you daft?!" she cried, "For the Maker's sake lower your voice!" her tone was a harsh and rather loud whisper.

"Sorry," The messenger replied, severely chastised,. "The Guard-Captain…Sorry the Viscountess said it was urgent." He then opened his mouth to speak more.

Gwen made a swift cutting motion near her throat, silencing him. "Not here," Varric told him. "Let's return to the inn. Viscountess, huh? Tell me about that."

Varric continued to make small talk with the messenger and the crowd that had gathered around them dispersed as they lost interest. Hawke whistled sharply and Boomer immediately rolled the giggling children gently off his back and hurried to her side. She followed Varric and the messenger back to the inn while she absent-mindedly scratched Boomer's head.

It took about fifteen minutes for them to return to the inn and they headed to straight to Gwen's room, which was on the second floor at the end of a hallway, and thus the most secluded.

When passing Fenris' room, Varric banged loudly on the door. There was a loud thud as something hit the floor, which was then followed by a stream of Tevene curses. Fenris appeared at the door in nothing but trousers, with his hair disheveled. He had only cracked the door, trying to partially hide his markings.

"What?" He demanded loudly and gruffly.

"News from Aveline," Varric replied smugly. "Oh and Rivaini!" he shouted past Fenris,. "Meeting, Hawke's room. Now."

Hawke heard a groan originate from somewhere in Fenris' room and raised an eyebrow. Boomer twisted his head to the side and whined confusedly at his mistress. She patted his head to comfort him.

"Don't get your trousers twisted," She yelled,. "I'm coming!"

Fenris let out a sigh as he closed the door, "We'll meet you there in a few minutes."

"Make it one minute!" Varric yelled through the now closed door,. "Otherwise this messenger is going to collapse!"

The messenger looked down at Varric, confused. "I'm fine now," he stated.

Varric hushed him,. "They'll never come otherwise."

A few minutes later the six of them stood in a circle in Hawke's room. Gwen quickly cast a spell to prevent any sound from escaping the room. Fenris shifted uncomfortably next to Isabela who swiftly elbowed him in the ribs and kept him quiet.

Varric then looked to the messenger,. "Well let's hear it! Don't keep us waiting."

The messenger looked briefly surprised as he was shocked from his gawking of those around him.

"Right," he stuttered. "Viscountess Hendyr warns that Seekers are on their way to Kirkwall! She has requested Master Varric's help!"

Varric glanced worriedly at Hawke. A thousand questions passed between them in that instance.

"I can't return," Hawke whispered.

Varric frowned as he shoved the messenger out the door and slammed it shut. He came back and said "I know. What are we going to do?"

"What if just Varric goes?" Isabela suggested.

Hawke frowned, but knew it was the only option available.

"Isabela and I can stay with Hawke until you return," Fenris offered. Gwen rolled her eyes. 'Great two new lovers to keep me company' she thought 'Looks like I'm going to only have a dog for company.'

Sensing his mistress's train of thought, Boomer whined at her. Hawke hurriedly patted his head in reassurance.

Eventually Gwen let out a long sigh and stated, "Looks like it's the only option."

* * *

**_AN: So one more chapter of prelude, then the true cross-overiness (-totally should be a word) _**_**begins. I got a few surprises for next chapter and if you see them coming... well done. Early kudos. Hope you're enjoying! Stick around, the story hasn't even really started yet!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**So another late update. I have chapter 6 written, just waiting on my Beta's. I'll update when I am able.**_

* * *

Antivan Port City of Treviso:

Gwen was right.

She currently sat alone in her room with only Boomer for company. It had been a little over a month since Varric had left for Kirkwall, and she was still missing him almost every day. Isabela and Fenris had only grown closer as the weeks went by.

It had started out fine in the beginning. They would stop by her room every once so often and invite her out to have drinks with them, and then they would play cards until late in the morning. Then afterwards, Gwen would crawl back to her room and sleep for most of the following day. As the days went on, those nights became more and more infrequent. She was slowly, but surely, spending more and more time without human contact.

She was too afraid to meet new people and introduce them to the complications of her life. The fact that she had inadvertently started a war between Mages and Templars. She half-expected the Templars to come barging in at any second. The Chantry was probably using all of its forces to locate her and Anders. She didn't have anyone she could trust at the moment.

After moping for an hour about her current state, she finally got bored of even doing that. She looked down at Boomer and decided to do something. Boomer only tilted his head to the side, asking his mistress what she wanted to do.

Gwen smiled at him and asked. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

Boomer immediately perked up and started barking in excitement as his furiously wagging stumpy tail almost denting the wood of the floor.

Gwen stood up, grabbed her cloak and opened the door, after which Boomer immediately shot off down the hall. As she walked down the hall, she noticed Fenris' door was closed, which seemed to be the norm nowadays. After a moment of hesitation, she knocked.

"What?" Fenris' deep voice reverberated through the door.

"I was going for a walk and was wondering if you and Isabela would accompany me?" She asked, effectively covering the longing in her voice.

"We're busy! Maybe tomorrow!" Isabela swiftly replied.

Gwen sighed in disappointment.

Before she could argue the point, she heard a commotion downstairs. There was a large crash, followed by the innkeeper yelling incoherently, then loud barking. Gwen's face paled and she sprinted downstairs, her discomfort forgotten.

She arrived downstairs to see Boomer snarling at a male customer and blocking his escape. The innkeeper was also trying to drag Boomer away from the customer with absolutely no success. It looked like he was bleeding. All of the other customers were watching from a distance, having found their entertainment for the day. He was a rather large dog, and none of them were moving to intervene.

"Boomer," Gwen stated, her tone firm and steady. Surprisingly, Boomer ignored her. He had never done that before. Gwen whistled a high pitched tune that was so shrill most of the customers flinched.

Boomer immediately shut up and turned around to stare at his mistress. He seemed surprised to see her;, he must have been drowning out everything around him. Boomer turned around and growled one more time at the man in the corner, like something was off about him. Boomer was an excellent judge of character under most circumstances, and Gwen wondered what had set him off on the man in the corner.

Boomer turned his head to whine at his mistress, and Gwen couldn't for the life of her understand what he was trying to tell her about the man. She started tapping her foot impatiently. Boomer immediately turned around. He knew what tapping her foot precluded to. He sulked his way back to his mistress' side. She glared at him all the way. Boomer shrunk even more under her withering stare.

"That mutt is banned from this establishment. As long as he is with you, you are not welcome," the innkeeper stated harshly while glaring at Hawke as he held his wounded hand. Boomer must have bitten the poor fellow before she had arrived. He was a war dog, after all. The innkeeper shouldn't have touched him.

"But..." Gwen interjected, but was cut off before she could continue.

"If you still wish to stay, you can put him in the stables out back." He stated and turned around going back to look for a bandage. The matter was clearly finished.

Gwen let out a long sigh, "What am I going to do with you, Boomer?" She asked no one in particular. She glanced down at Boomer and realized he once again wasn't paying any attention to her. His focus was back on the man who he had cornered. Gwen took the opportunity to study him.

The man had just returned to his seat. He had a leather sleeveless vest with a hood that showed off some weird intricate tattoos. They originally looked like vines, but on closer inspection they were revealed to be looping script, in a language Gwen had never seen. The hood prevented Gwen from seeing his facial features, and he was turned away from her. He was currently watching the innkeeper retreat to his duties.

Then the man glanced at her, and Gwen saw his eyes. The shadows around his face refused to disperse. His eyes were what unnerved her the most. One was grey and the other a dark brown that was nearly black. His eyes looked dead as he stared at her. Gwen felt a subconscious shiver down her spine and dragged Boomer out of the inn before the innkeeper could start a scene again.

She walked around Treviso, but she wasn't really looking at the sights Gwen was lost deep in thought as she walked around the city. Boomer kept any curious residents out of her way. The massive dog had an aura around him that most people wanted to avoid. He was still worked up from his encounter with the bizarre hooded man.

Gwen must have walked around for hours. She was worried about Varric, and she was tired of being ignored by both Fenris and Isabela. She was also tired of sitting in Treviso and doing nothing. It was at that point that she decided she was going back to Kirkwall. Consequences be damned. She would not allow her friends to fight her own battles.

She stopped walking in the middle of the street. She was surprised with herself. She hadn't thought like that since the last battle.

She looked down at Boomer, and asked, "Are you ready to go on another adventure?"

Boomer's tail wagged happily and he barked his agreement.

Gwen headed back to the inn, happy she had found a purpose once again. There was almost a skip to her step. Boomer, sensing the change, was bounding with joy that she was back to her old self. Gwen got to the door of the inn and looked down at Boomer and her mood deflated instantly.

"You have to stay here," she told him.

He whined.

"You're banned, remember?" She scolded him.

Boomer huffed and lay down off to the side of the door.

"I'll be back," She told him. "I'm just going upstairs to grab my things, and then we will go find another inn." She pushed her way through the door and hurriedly crossed the main floor to the staircase. She glanced around and noticed the man from earlier was gone. Very few of the customers were around, the innkeeper was back behind the bar. Not wanting to grab his attention, she took the stairs two at a time, and stopped outside Fenris' door.

"Fenris., Isabela," She called as she knocked on the wood. There was no reply. She cleared her throat and loudly stated through the door with exasperation, "Boomer is banned from the inn, so he and I are switching inns. I'll come back tomorrow to check up on you!"

With that she turned and hurried down the hallway.

When she got into her room, she quickly located her belongings and started throwing them into her pack. She glanced around for her staff. It was gold and had a miniature statue of Andraste at the top, with arms spread open. It was her Father's before hers, and it was one of her last mementos of him. She called it Malcolm's Honor.

She stopped when she saw it on the floor.

That was not where she had left it.

She froze where she stood as her hand began to glow with magical fire. She readied a spell and glanced around the room. The far corner of the room seemed to be covered with an impenetrable shadow. Gwen glared at the shadow and readied a cleansing spell. The darkness was nothing natural.

Just as she prepared to unleash her spell, she suddenly found herself stripped of all her mana. The force of the draining caused her to stumble. Her eyes widened in surprise as the shadow started moving towards her at a rapid pace.

She turned around and dove for the nearest weapon, which happened to be her Father's staff.

She never made it to the weapon. Just as she reached for it, she felt a hand around her ankle. She turned around to face her opponent.

The last thing Hawke saw before she was knocked unconscious were two eyes. One grey, one the darkest black she had ever seen.

* * *

The Forerunner Facility:

Dominic hurt everywhere. His armor was still intact, but it did nothing to protect him from the tons of rubble that had collapsed upon him. He felt like a soda can put through a hydraulic press. He knew he had internal bleeding. How bad it was, he didn't know. The intense pressure the debris put on his armor had crushed some of the delicate wires that were required for his heads-up display, commonly referred to as his HUD, to work. He was surprised that his radio had still worked allowing for Arvo to contact him.

He had been wandering the vast halls of the Forerunner facility for what seemed like hours. It easily could have been only a few minutes, however;, the constant pain was messing with his internal clock. And with his HUD malfunctioning, there was no way for him to just check. He had yet to run into a single living soul. This half of the facility must have truly been sealed off. His chances of getting out were dwindling by the second.

He entered a very large room and quickly took in his surroundings. There was a raised platform in the middle of the room, which was suspended by a floating platform. Three concentric rings of hardlight encircled the platform, forming some highly advanced looking steps. He approached the platform slowly, pistol at the ready. His MA5D and one of his confiscated energy swords now lay under a mountain of debris. No way was he going to be able to find them underneath all that rubble.

When he glanced down he was surprised to see that a massive pit was beneath the platform, it was so deep that he couldn't even see the bottom. The pit seemed to eat at his willpower.

One of his legs suddenly lost its strength and Dominic was forced to his knees, which caused his pain to spike significantly. He gasped and struggled to get his breathing back to normal. After a few minutes of controlled breathing, he finally managed to suppress the pain then push himself back to his feet.

He slowly took the steps one at a time and approached the platform. He wasn't that surprised to see the floating ball on top of the console. He had read the reports from survivor of the Battle of the Ark on how Forerunner technology was coded to human DNA. He glanced around the room once more in an attempt to locate what the console activated. There was nothing obvious. With his time among the living getting shorter by the minute, Dominic debated on what to do and finally decided to activate the console. Either he would die now, or a few hours along the road. At least this way he had some measure of control and didn't have to wait for himself to slowly bleed from the inside out.

He finally laid his hand flush with the floating ball, and almost instantly the room came to life. Lights along the walls lit up in a vertical fashion, one coming on after the other, it gave the room an almost ethereal feel to it. When the lights finally reach the top of the roof - which was some one hundred meters above Dominic's head- a small circular panel opened up.

Then Dominic heard humming and brushed it off, thinking his internal injuries had finally caught up with him. That was until he saw a floating ball with one green eye come floating through the hole in the ceiling. It was a monitor!

Dominic never thought he would see one. He had listened to the Arbiter's tale of how Guilty Spark had gone on a rampage and tried to kill him and the Master Chief. He shivered at the thought. He was in no condition to fight one, and he hoped with all his being that this one would turn out not insane.

The monitor quickly floated down to eye level and hovered a few feet away from his head.

"Greetings, Reclaimer," Its voice was surprisingly gentle and relaxing, yet deep and commanding of instant respect. It was definitely male. To say Dominic was surprised, would have been an understatement. He had read the reports about Spark, and they all had one common thread. The little robot spoke rapidly and his voice had grated on the ears of all those around him. That was a far cry from what he had just heard.

"My name is 479 Maker's Voice and I am the monitor of Observation Outpost Alpha - 00, may I ask why you have visited my research outpost?"

Dominic opened his mouth to answer. Just before the words left his mouth, however, his SPARTAN strength gave up on him at that very moment and he blacked out

* * *

_**So I was gonna get to the crossover part this chapter, but at the end I realized it was twice as long as any of my other chapters, so I split it. Sorry! I swear there are more surprises to keep you guys interested in the next chapter!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**So me and my betas haven't worked out a precise schedule hence the weird time gaps between updates. I'm working on it. Anyways, Chapter 6! Enjoy!**_

* * *

Antivan City of Treviso:

Isabela groaned as she was rudely awakened from the best sleep of her life by a dog's barking. She didn't remember the bed being so hard though. She blearily rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

When they started to focus, she noticed Fenris laying next her and couldn't help but smile.

'Wait, why are we on the floor with clothes on?' she wondered as she realized that they both were in fact on the floor, fully clothed. She looked at Fenris' hand and noticed a partially finished bottle of wine.

"That's right!" she yelled out loud, which caused Fenris to groan. They had been talking and enjoying each other's company after Hawke had announced she was going on a walk.

The innkeeper had come up and offered them a bottle of his best wine. They had both thought it strange, however, neither Fenris nor Isabela were going to turn away free quality wine, Fenris for his love of wine and Isabela for her love of alcohol.

"The damn bottle must have been drugged!" She thought out loud, while Fenris just groaned again.

'Why would someone want to drug both her and Fenris and then do nothing to either of them?' She questioned herself mentally and then came to a single conclusion., 'Someone wanted us out of the way so they could get to Hawke!'

"Shit!" she exclaimed. and Tthen she started pacing back and forth as her mind raced.

She looked down at Fenris' prone form and stopped next to his body and nudged him in the side with her boot a few times.

"Get up, Stud Muffin!" She yelled, "Something has happened to Hawke!"

That seemed to have gotten his attention. He awoke almost immediately, his lyrium-infused tattoos flaring and wiping the last vestiges of sleep away. If she hadn't seen him fast asleep a few moments ago, she probably would have never believed he had been sleeping in the first place.

"What do you mean? Wait, what did you call me?" He questioned, in that deep voice she absolutely adored.

"We were both drugged," She explained. "And since we are both here, that can only mean something bad has happened to Hawke. Come on! We should go check her room." She sneakily diverted his attention from the name she had called him.

They both quickly grabbed their gear and hurried out the door. Fenris raised his hand to knock and found the door swung open easily. This was not a good sign.

Isabela did a quick scan of the room and could find no evidence of foul play. It looked like she had been in the middle of packing.

"Hawke used magic here recently," Fenris declared.

"How can you be sure?" Isabela questioned.

"I know what her magic feels like," Fenris replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

'How vague!' Isabela thought exasperatedly. She also noticed Hawke's staff was missing.

"Come." Fenris commanded. "We should go ask the innkeeper. He was the one who gave us the wine, right?"

"Yes," She replied as she pulled out one of her daggers. "Yes, he was."

They both turned around and left the room headed downstairs.

When they arrived they found the innkeeper behind the bar absentmindedly rubbing a bandage on his hand. When he saw them he stopped and tried to leave. Isabela quickly cut him off.

"Aw, where you off to sweetheart?'" She said in her sweet sultry voice.

The innkeeper stammered, but quickly recovered. "I was going to the back to get some more supplies."

Isabela just smiled at him, and then finally she stated, "I don't believe you." As soon as the words left her mouth she brought her dagger to his neck. "I suggest you start talking quickly."

The innkeeper started sweating profusely. "I ain't tellin' you all anything!" He declared. "If I had known she was a maleficar I would have never let her stay!"

Before Isabela could question him further, Fenris stepped forward bristling with rage. "Do not dare insinuate that SHE is anything like them!" He practically roared into the innkeeper's face as he picked the innkeeper up by the scruff of his shirt with one hand. "Answer her question." He commanded with barely contained fury.

"Make me," The innkeeper declared smugly. He knew they wouldn't actually kill him until they got the information they needed.

Fenris just smirked at him. "As you wish."

Fenris' opposite hand glowed white and he then plunged his hand into the innkeeper's chest. The innkeeper's smug look was quickly replaced with one of pain and fear. The patrons of the inn all hurried out at that point. They tried not to make any noise, lest they bring the strange elf's wrath upon themselves.

After a few seconds he removed his hand. "Speak," He commanded. Isabela also realized that the innkeeper had wet himself. If the situation wasn't so dire, she probably would have laughed.

"A man was in here earlier," The innkeeper stammered with fear. "After her dog bit me, he told me she was a dangerous maleficarum and asked if I would help. He paid me thirty sovereigns to give you two some wine and make sure she was alone when she went up to her room. That's all I know, I swear!"

"This man… Describe him," Isabela said as she took over the interrogation. "If I find your answers lacking, I will kill you." She warned him.

The man hurried to please. "I never saw his face!" He cried.

"Well, that's just too bad," Isabela purred. Fenris then dropped him to the ground. Isabela twirled her dagger between her fingers and struck so fast one would have been hard pressed to watch her hand. Just before her dagger pierced the skin of his throat she stopped.

"Wait! Just wait! He had some weird tattoos that looked like vines! They ran all up and down his arms." He shrieked.

Isabela patted the innkeeper on the head to calm him. The man visibly relaxed. "Thanks for the identifying marks, but unfortunately, you helped a man kidnap one of my only friends. And Tthat I can simply not tolerate." She said in a deceptively calm voice. Just as the innkeeper's eyes widened in realization of what she was implying, Isabela finished her earlier strike across his throat. The innkeeper choked in his own blood and bled out in under a minute.

Fenris looked down at the innkeeper, but from the looks of things, he felt no sympathy for the man. Finally, he looked at Isabela. "What now?" He asked.

Isabela started contemplating, but before she could think of an idea, they were interrupted by a dog barking at the front door to the inn. It sounded like the dog that awoken her earlier. Then she realized who it was… Boomer!

She quickly ran to the door and realized Fenris still stood where he was, not putting two and two together. "Come on, Stud Muffin!" She ignored the fact the Fenris was about to ask about the name again and once more stated more important things to keep him distracted. "That's gotta be Boomer! If anyone can find Hawke, it's going to be that loveable mutt!"

Fenris hurried after her.

When they pushed out into the humid afternoon, Isabela was nearly knocked over by the massive form of Boomer. He ran right past her into the inn and then up the stairs.

After a few minutes Isabela saw the dog return down the stairs, with his form low to the ground. It looked like he had caught Hawke's trail. Maybe, just maybe they could catch her.

As Isabela and Fenris followed Boomer through the city, Isabela grew more and more worried for Hawke.

She and Fenris followed the Mabari for hours, the trail winded throughout the whole city. Whoever had taken Hawke had gone to great lengths to make sure he wasn't followed. She wondered how he had carried her around with no one noticing.

After an eternity of following Boomer, they arrived at a gate that led outside the city. Isabela immediately noticed that this gate was also, physically, the farthest possible exit of the city from the inn and docks.

They followed Boomer outside the walls for at least another hour;, the Mabari finally came to a complete stop.

The last of Isabela's hopes were finally snuffed out. They were in front of a large river with no easily visible way to cross. The current was also moving too fast for them to wade across.

The Mabari let out a howl of pain, and before either Fenris or Isabela could stop him dove into the water.

Isabela gasped and took off, preparing to dive into the water after him.

Fenris grabbed both of her arms before she could do so. "Isabela! Stop," He said firmly. "He has not surfaced, you may very well drown!"

"Fenris! He's family, we cannot just leave him!" she argued.

"I have no doubt he survived, but you will do no good if you drown," he tried to convince her to think logically and not swim across the river like he knew she was going to attempt.

The argument was cut short, because at that moment a furry body struggled out of the river about twenty yards downstream. Boomer didn't even acknowledge them and took off down the river bank, no doubt once again searching for the trail.

Isabela felt the worry drain from her.

"He is dedicated, he will find her," Fenris reassured her. "We need to go and see if we can find somewhere to cross"

Isabela nodded mutely.

"If we cannot find her or Boomer, we should return to Kirkwall. Varric is far more connected than us," Fenris stated, once more he saw the whole picture and she was grateful the direction.

With one last glance across the river, Isabela hesitantly turned to follow Fenris. She found herself praying, for the first time in a long time, for the safety of the two members of her adopted family.

* * *

Observation Outpost Alpha - 00:

Dominic blearily opened his eyes. He tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes, but found his hands were strapped down. With a little more force, the bindings easily snapped. He was finally able to rub his eyes.

Wait, He shouldn't be able to do that. Where was his helmet?

He glanced around and found he was seated on a table in an otherwise empty room. He then decided now would be as good a time as any to stand up.

As soon as he twisted his body, the pain from his injuries came back full force. He struggled to remain upright.

After a few second of deep breathing, he felt strong enough to fully stand.

There was a swishing sound and he glanced to the wall on his right. A hole formed at the center and kept expanding until it was roughly door shaped.

The Green Monitor came floating in, 'What was its name? Maker's Voice? That sounded right,' Dominic struggled to think through the pain.

"Ah! Reclaimer, you've awaken! Good. I was just about to wake you. Your injuries are extensive and we lack a proper medical facility," It said in that voice that instantly put Dominic at ease.

"Where is my helmet?" he asked.

"Oh, it was severely damaged," Maker's Voice said just as his helmet appeared in a ball of light. "I scavenged some of its non-essential systems to fix your HUD."

"Wait, what do you mean non-essential systems?" Dominic questioned starting to feel just a little apprehensive.

"Items including long and short range communication, ammo counter, and the anti-fog feature," Voice replied, sounding quite pleased with itself.

"How were any of those non-essential?" He asked, while barely preventing himself from raising his voice.

"Well, by my calculations you only have approximately 3 hours left before you go unconscious again for what may be the very last time," Voice replied in a solemn tone. "Never fear, for I have a solution, Reclaimer," It concluded in a slightly more cheerful tone.

As if spurred by the reminder, Dominic broke out into a coughing session that hurt almost every inch of his body. After recovering he picked up his helmet and gingerly shoved it into place.

"Let's hear it," He resolutely told Voice.

"Follow me if you would, Reclaimer," it commanded and then floated out the doorway.

Dominic shrugged to himself and stepped across the threshold.

The Monitor was a couple feet down a hallway that looked almost exactly like any of the others he'd been down during the mission. The Monitor knew where it was going, so Dominic followed its lead at a brisk walk, compared to his usual jog. It was all he could manage.

"Oh! Before I forget, I also modified your sword and your suits power source," It said cheerfully, like a father who had just gotten one of his children a new toy. Dominic, on the other hand, was not amused. He did not like it when people messed with his gear. This Maker's Voice had already made adjustments to his helmet, now he was finding out that was the least of the items it had modified.

Dominic let out a sigh and then asked, "What did you do?" If the words had come from anyone else, one would have assumed they were moping. SPARTANs, on the other hand, do not mope;, they voice their complaints loudly and bluntly.

"I altered them to automatically recharge if there is enough lyrium in the air," Voice said. It seemed like it thought that was a satisfactory answer.

"And what's lyrium?" Dominic asked, getting slightly frustrated.

"Oh, it is an amazing mineral! I have been tasked with studying it for the past million years or so! It has an adverse effect on the Flood, causes some humanoids to develop special powers;, it even shortens the gap between worlds!" Voice said while bobbing up and down with giddy.

"Oh, that explains it," Dominic said sarcastically, which the Monitor didn't even pick up on. "You still haven't told me your plan that is supposedly going to save my life."

"Ah, yes. This observation post monitors a planet that through lyrium shares a very close connection with a realm of strange beings. One is called the Fade by its residents, while the other is called Thedas. I will be sending you to the latter. Lyrium gives Thedas' residents some unique powers, one of which includes the ability to heal wounds. My hope is that one of these individuals will be able to save your life," It replied.

It all sounded magical, but the Monitor thought it would work. Dominic was all out of options anyways.

"I assume that you have some way of getting me there and back?" he questioned, still not satisfied with the answers so far.

"I have a way to get you there, but bringing you back might be more of a problem," Voice stated, its tone did not change at all. With a sinking realization, Dominic understood it seemed fine with that outcome.

"When my masters abandoned this facility during the war with the Flood, they shut down all of their facilities in order to prevent the Flood from finding the planet. My teleporter is only one way, so I will be unable to bring you back until you have found and activated the teleporters at one of the facilities. I do not know where on the planets they are located. That bit of information was deleted from my memory banks. I do know that there are three on Thedas and one on Fade. The one on Fade does not have a teleporter, regrettably." It explained without being prompted.

"And this is my only shot?" Dominic asked. "What happens if I die before I can find one of these people that can heal me?"

"I have located one who suits our needs," Voice stated. "I will be able to teleport you within one hundred meters of her location."

"It's a she? How will I know what she looks like? How will we communicate?" Dominic questioned. "There seemed to be a lot of holes in this plan."

"Oh she speaks English or as they refer to it… the Common Tongue. Plus she is human," it said casually,. "I also have placed a navigational marker in your H.U.D. with her location. She isn't moving currently."

"Wait, did you say human?" the SPARTAN questioned once more.

The Monitor actually sighed in exasperation. "I study the effects of lyrium! One such aspect is the effect it has on Reclaimers! We transplanted some to live on Thedas." It was clearly getting frustrated with all his questions.

They continued in silence for another hundred meters or so. Dominic was hesitant to ask more questions. It hurt to talk and he was already focusing on keeping his pain under control, plus he did not want to make the floating ball angry. Finally, they came to the end of the hallway.

"The teleporter is just in here," It informed him. "Is there anything you need before your journey?"

"Yes, my partner is still in the building. After this I was wondering if you could inform him where I went?" he asked politely. He was being polite to a robot and couldn't believe it.

"Strange, I am not picking up any Reclaimer biosignatures," iIt stated. Dominic sighed, the nerve of this machine to just assume his partner was human.

"That's because he is not human. He is a Sangheili, and his name is Arvo. He is different than the other filth in here. I assume you can take his IFF code out of my helmet?" Dominic said as he removed his helmet in order for Maker's Voice to have easier access.

"Ah yes, good idea!" It said in a condescending tone that made Dominic feel slightly inadequate. "It will be some time before I can teleport him in as well. The teleporter has to recharge. Oh, I have already downloaded the code. You may replace your helmet," iIt informed him.

Dominic forcefully shoved his helmet back into place -it hurt, but he was too frustrated to care at this point- and stepped into the teleportation room. If he wasn't in such a bad mood, he would have been amazed at the large room and at its center a glowing yellow portal. As it was he saw the yellow, assumed it was the portal and headed straight for it. Just as he stepped through he heard Maker's Voice call good luck after him in a tone that was much too happy for his liking. He needed to vent his frustration and soon.

* * *

_**So if anyone caught on to Arvo being a Sangheili... Kudos to you. I'll be trying to keep this story fresh, anyways if you got any ideas or would like something to happen, shoot me a PM or write a review. I'm always open to new ideas!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**_Finally, the crossover is here! Anyways, there is an allusion to attempted rape in this chapter. Just givin you a heads up. There are no details though._**

* * *

An Unknown Location near Treviso:

Gwen blearily struggled to open her eyes. Her head was pounding. She attempted to rub her eyes, but found her hands were bound. She looked around, but couldn't see clearly ; however, she could tell she was bound and chained to a post. She tried to call forth fire to light the area, but found that her magic refused to answer her call.

Even though she had failed to use magic, the room lit up anyways. She appeared to be in a tent of some kind. Curious she looked for the source of the light and found it to be the chains around her wrists. They were letting out a soft glow. When she stopped trying to cast magic the glow disappeared as well. The chains appeared to be absorbing her magic, which was not a good sign.

She felt a sharp pain on her arm and looking down, noticed a fresh cut on her arm. It looked to be at least a few hours old. She struggled to remember as to how she had gotten here and how she had gotten wounded. She couldn't remember anything past seeing a shadow in her room at the inn. She was a little disappointed in herself that whatever it was had taken her out so easily.

She sat in contemplative silence. Her mind raced with different scenarios on how to escape. All of them were dead ends due to the magic absorbing chains around her wrists. Suddenly, the flap of the tent was flipped back and in strode a man.

The first thing she noticed was the flaming sword on his breastplate. She glanced up to see his face, but it was obscured by the helmet that almost all Templars wore. She often wondered how they could see anything. Maybe the Maker gave them sight. She scoffed out loud.

"Ah, you're awake," The Templar stated, his voice echoing eerily due to the helmet. I thought I felt some magic."

"What do you want?" she asked him in an even voice. Her outward appearance gave no clues to her emotions. The Templar seemed startled that she remained so calm in a seemingly dire situation such as this. The man seemed intimidated. He was probably used to mages crying and begging for their lives at this point. No way he was responsible for her capture.

"Nothing, I just came to make sure you couldn't cause trouble. The last thing we need is some stupid maleficar yelling all night keeping us awake," He replied with a faint hint of amusement. Hawke knew he was trying to goad her. She flat out ignored the man. She would not give him the satisfaction of rising to the bait.

This only served to anger the Templar. "The Seeker is probably already halfway to the Circle in Brynnlaw, to make your phylactery," he let slip like the foolish buffoon he was. It was probably some misguided attempt to intimidate her. She had faced down the Arishok. This man wasn't half as intimidating as he thought he was.

"Well, thanks for that bit of information. When I get out of here, I know where I am headed next," she smiled at Templar snapped at that and he ran forward and kicked her hard in the side. She let out a gasp of pain.

"That ought to teach you to keep your mouth shut," he responded while he looked down at her. His voice practically dripped venom and cruelty.

"Typical Templar behavior. Kicking helpless mages while they are down," she said between her gasps for air.

"I'm going to enjoy teaching you your place, maleficar," the Templar stated as he looked down upon Templar beat her for the next half hour. Hawke could take it though, and finally he got tired of her absolute lack of a final attempt to get her to react the Templar said something that indeed made her shudder.

"I'll return later tonight, after you've healed up a bit. I prefer my mages to have some fight left in them while I take them," he said as she could practically feel him undressing her with his eyes.

With a swish of the tent he was gone and Gwen was finally left alone.

If the Templar had wanted some fight, well then he would get one. Gwen would not be taken like some helpless animal. She would make him pay for every moment.

"You will die first," she said to no one but herself. Not as a statement, but as a promise.

She leaned back against the pole her chains were attached to. Her hands couldn't be moved from behind her back, and the length of the chain prevented her from sighed and started meditating. She would need to be focused for what was to come.

* * *

Just Outside of Hawke's Tent:

The Captain came striding out of the tent. Anyone could tell from his posture that he was pissed.

Sergio, the guard stationed at the entrance of the tent was debating with himself on whether to confront his captain about what he had just done.

The Seeker, who had brought in Hawke, had left specific orders for her to not be touched. Judging from the blood that was on the knuckles and feet of his armor, the Captain had done just the opposite.

His conscience prevented him from remaining silent, Sergio stood blocking the Captain's path. The Captain looked startled as he came to an abrupt halt. Sergio was a sight to behold. He stood at six feet tall and looked like he could move a small mountain. The armor he had been issued seemed to be protecting the world from him rather than the other way around.

"We had orders not to touch her," he stated. The Captain visibly gulped. The Captain had demanded to see the prisoner earlier. If Sergio had known his intentions, he would never have let the sniveling coward before him enter nor let him dismiss Sergio from his duty.

"I am in charge here," The Captain scolded him as he looked down his nose at him, but he was shorter than Sergio so the effect was drastically reduced, "You would do well to remember that."

He attempted to shove past Sergio, but Sergio did not budge. Eventually, the Captain was forced to step around him. Many of the Templars watched the exchange warily. Sergio did not care what they thought of him. He was given a task, and he would see it through. No one else would be entering the tent until the Seeker returned. He would not make the same mistake twice.

Unknown to him the Captain was making plans of his own. After his confrontation with the big man before him, he had summoned his cohorts, which happened to be all six remaining Templars in the camp. He had no idea why the Seeker chose them to help him on his mission. The man was an enigma. These six Templars were his men. Sergio was the only new addition for this mission. He was put in the group by the Knight-Vigilant. One did not disobey the Knight-Vigilant.

"Sergio will be a problem, he will not allow us near her," his second stated.

The Captain looked around at all the faceless helmets that surrounded him.

"Remove him from the picture," he told them. "One man will not stop us from having our fun."

The others around him laughed. The Captain found himself smiling as well and looking forward to all the activities he had planned for their "guest."

Later that Night:

Sergio had been vigilant. Five people had tried to see the prisoner. Not one actually saw her. He had thrown them all on their asses and sent them packing.

It was starting to get dark. He wondered when the Seeker would be back. The man had gone ahead to make the mage's phylactery, so if she escaped while they were enroute, they would be able to quickly track her down. Plus they were headed to Val Royeaux. The Divine had a special interest in this one.

He was curious as what had brought down the wrath of the most infamous Seeker down on her head. He would never ask though. He was a guard and soldier, he wasn't here to be Knight-Vigilant had requested him personally. He would prove himself.

While lost in his thoughts, he did not notice the other six Templars approach him. Suddenly, the force of six simultaneous Smites was brought down on his head. He was not a mage, however, that didn't matter when it was the force of the six, not their effects that brought him to his knees.

Sergio immediately ripped off his helmet and threw up.

"Not so tough now?" Came the Captain's smug words. The man was no longer in his armor, and Sergio knew exactly what he had planned. Sergio shakily stood to his feet. He would not allow him near his charge.

" I will admit, I am surprised that he still has the strength to stand," the Captain stated to his cohorts, "Again, and afterwards break his legs so we can do this in peace."

"But sir! He is one of us!" one of them protested. The Captain strode forward and grabbed the man by his breastplate.

"He stopped being one of us the moment he protected that thing!" he shouted, "Now, do as I command!" With that, the Captain threw the man to the floor.

Sergio was still recovering from the previous six smites. As such he was unable to defend himself when he felt five more simultaneous smites and then found himself on his knees once more. The Captain nodded at his men and they came and dragged him away.

Looking back, Sergio saw the Captain smile and stride into the mage's tent. He attempted to reason with the four men dragging him, but his protests fell on deaf ears. He couldn't even move. The eleven smites he had endured had completely drained him physically. He slumped his head in defeat. He had failed.

When they finally broke his legs, the Captain was nowhere around. The coward. Sergio tried to hold his scream in, but the pain was too much. After the second scream and broken leg, he blacked out.

* * *

Just Outside the Templar's Camp Clearing:

Dominic groaned as he awakened. He must have briefly blacked out, but what had awakened him?

He suddenly smiled to himself. He remembered that the Monitor had said if he blacked out again he would never wake up. The little shit was wrong. Well, his day was a little bit better. Not much, but still a little.

His smile disappeared when a man's scream rang loud in the night; instinctively, his blood raced, adrenaline flooded his body, and - like a siren's call - the SPARTAN that was ingrained in him since he was six responded. He was ready for anything.

He quickly shoved any remaining feelings of pain to the back of his mind. His senses went into overdrive. His SPARTAN enhanced hearing could pick up the sounds of a campfire, and men in heavy armor moving around.

He checked his surroundings and found he was at the edge of a clearing and a waypoint was smack dab in the middle of a campsite.

He checked his motion sensor and saw that there were six red blips spread throughout the camp. The damn thing could only pick on full body movement, so who knew how many others there could be. As he was watching, two of the men in strange medieval armor sets with skirts came and took up positions on either side of the tent that was supposed to contain his salvation.

He sighed. He had no idea if these people were hostiles or guards for this "magic" user. He didn't want to just go in shooting and stabbing. With little other options, he stood from his hiding spot and strode into the camp.

The two men immediately stopped talking and drew their weapons when they caught sight of the seven foot man. Dominic stopped in the shadows so they couldn't make out many details about himself. Were they joking? One carried a giant two-handed sword while the other had a short sword and shield. They looked to be made of metal, Maker's Voice could have at least told him the tech level these people were at.

"Halt," the one on the left said,. "You are not welcome here, stranger. This is a Templar camp."

Templar? They said it like it was something important. "I just need to see the healer," he told them as he put his hands up in a placating gesture.

"There is no healer here, only a dangerous apostate!" the other said. Clearly that was supposed to scare him.

Just as he was about to speak again there was a loud yell of pain from inside the tent.

Followed by a man calling someone a bitch, then there was the sound of another person being slapped.

"Hey, one of you get in here and hold her down! She isn't cooperating," called the same voice that had said bitch.

Dominic easily put two and two together. The two men glanced nervously at one another, and if it wasn't for the armor he would have sworn they were sweating where they stood. Dominic started clenching his hands in an attempt to reign in his temper. He was definitely going to have to vent soon.

* * *

Back Inside the Tent:

Gwen was smirking at the Captain. He was starting to fidget under her stare while waiting for his men to come into the tent.

The man had tried to force himself on her. Gwen had used the only weapon she had available. Her teeth. A piece of the man's ear lay at her feet where she had spit it out. The left side of the Captain's face and neck was covered in blood from his leaking ear. The man also had a spectacular looking black eye forming from where she had head-butted him.

She would not give up quietly. She had done too much to be taken against her will.

"Too much fight for you? Eh, Captain," she put emphasis on the last word. The man was starting to bristle. He turned around and headed for the entrance.

"Andraste's tits! What is taking you so long?" he yelled through the tent flap. When no one answered, He stuck his head out to check on them.

Gwen thought back to the Templar that had stood up for her. He had gotten two broken legs for his troubles, his screams struck at her heart. She was definitely going to kill the insignificant man before her.

She heard the Captain ask who someone was and what that person wanted. She tried to listen for a response, but there wasn't one. She could have sworn there was a hiss. The next thing she knew there was a loud bang, and the Captain flew back into the tent with a hole in his forehead. This was followed by the war cries of the Templars from around the camp. She could hear a sound that sounded like flesh being cauterized. She desperately wanted to know what was going on, but she was firmly stuck in place. The war cries soon turned to screams of pain.

Finally, after a few seconds of silence, a Templar burst into her tent. She studied him. He had a sword in one hand and the other hand was just gone. No, not just his hand. His entire arm was gone! His helmet was also gone and the man looked wild-eyed and pale.

The man took two shaky steps forward. So this was how it was to end? Killed by some one-armed Templar in the middle of she had no idea where. There was so much she had wanted to do. She had wanted a family of her own. She wanted to die surrounded by friends. Now, none of it would come to pass. She wouldn't let him see her cry or beg though.

Hawke just bowed her head and waited for the inevitable. It never came.

She risked a glance up; the Templar was suspended in the air. Two beams of light coming from out of his chest. A look of shock on his face as he stared at the light protruding from his body.

There was a snap, then a hiss and the light was gone. The man dropped with a thud. Gwen didn't even notice. Behind him was a giant… she didn't know what in the void it was. It looked like a golem made of metal, except the fact that it looked too human. It wasn't blocky or disproportionate. It was white with red designs in certain places on its outer shell. It seemed to be studying her; it looked down at her through its golden eye. At least that is what she assumed it was. All she could see was her reflection.

"Are you alright?" asked a deep voice. She was instantly lost in the deep baritone and didn't realize it had come from the golem before her. She also forgot it had asked her a question.

The creature started violently coughing. It seemed to be struggling for air. Well then it couldn't be a construct. It reached up towards its head and took it off!

Wait, it was a helmet. Now she felt incredibly stupid. There was a man under all that metal.

The man fell towards his knees, and seemed to be trying to say something. Finally the coughing was too much. He reached for her and collapsed. Out cold.

Gwen was in shock. She examined the part of man's face she could see. He was gorgeous, in her opinion at least. His hair was extremely short and he had a scar running down his left eye. As she looked she got lost in the pits and marks on his face. In the angle of his chin and the crook of his nose. She wanted to touch him, to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She was pretty sure she couldn't conjure someone like him up in her wildest dreams. She reached to touch him to make sure he was real, but there was a clink. She gasped and looked down. She was still chained in the middle of the tent.

"No!" she yelled frustrated. Now, she was going to get to watch as her savior died and then she would follow shortly due to dehydration or starvation. The one armed man was starting to look like the better option.

The days events finally caught up to her. She curled into herself and openly wept. No one was around to see her be weak. The Maker was such a cruel being.

* * *

**_So, now this story can really start picking up. Don't forget that nothing is set in stone, I'm still not sure how this is gonna end._**


End file.
